Piston Hondo
Piston Honda (ピストン本田 Pisuton Honda)/'Piston Hondo' (ピストン本堂 Pisuton Hondō) is a boxer from Tokyo, Japan. His quirks include the fact that Piston Honda's name and trademark Banzai Rush Attack (also known as the Piston Rush and the Honda Rush) are reminiscent of Piston Hurricane from the earlier Punch-Out!! arcade game and later Super Punch-Out!! Super Nintendo game. The theme music played for Piston Honda is a quote from Sakura, a Japanese folk song. Also, derived from Honda's quotes; NHK is an actual broadcasting company in Japan (but is replaced by "my camera crew" in Virtual Console version) and "Sushi, Kamikaze, Fujiyama, Nipponichi..." is genuine, if randomly babbled, Japanese. Piston Honda has also appeared as a Hasbro Action Figure and in a Topps trading card series. Honda also appears in the pages of the Nintendo Comics System in a story called "Outsiders" where, despite his fearsome demeanor in the game, he is shown to be an altruist who is a boxer to raise money to build hospitals and schools in poor parts of the country. Piston is one of the 3 fighters that can dodge your attacks, the other 2 are Mr. Sandman and Don Flamenco Appearances ''Punch-Out!! featuring Mr. Dream'' (1987–1990) Piston Honda made two appearances on the 1987 Nintendo Entertainment System game Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! first as the Minor Circuit Champion and later as Little Mac's first opponent in the World Circuit. The first real challenge for new Punch-Out!! players, Honda has a weak defense but is much improved when compared to Glass Joe or Von Kaiser. His jab and uppercuts hit hard and for an unprepared opponent his Piston Rush (a series of rotating left and right jabs) can be bad news. After dispatching Piston Honda for the Minor Circuit Championship Little Mac meets up with him again in the World Circuit. Honda returns with increased defense, aggression, a "wiggling uppercut", and an improved version of his Piston Rush. Oddly enough, he has the same body as Mike Tyson. ''Punch-Out!!'' (2009) Piston Hondo made an appearance in the title Punch-Out!!. He uses the same attacks that he used in Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!. The only difference from the NES "Punch-Out!!" is that Piston Hondo is the first fighter you see in the Major Circuit instead of the Minor Circuit champion. Instead, King Hippo now plays champion of the Minor Circuit in this version. He is voiced by Japanese anime voice actor seiyuu Kenji Takahashi for this edition of Punch-Out!!! (there is an error in his Japanese when he mentions Mt. Fuji as "Fujiyama" as it is really called "Fujisan"). He has only been defeated once (presumably by Mr. Sandman) but the person who defeated him discovered that the key to beating him was to watch his eyebrows. Small sushi items fly off when you punch him, so they appear again after you knock down Piston Hondo, and he retains his same style from the NES game. Additionally, in a rather polite manner, he will bow during the beginning of the match. Star Oppurtunities: * Jab him when his eyebrows twitch before he throws a jab. * Jab him when he flashes yellow on his Bow taunt. * Throw a delayed jab after dodging his right uppercut. One Hit Knockdowns: * Throw a Star Punch when he bows. * Counter the Hondo Rush. One Hit Knockouts: * Throw a Three-Star Punch when he bows. * Counter the Hondo Rush with a Three-Star Punch. * Four Punch TKO * step one: '''counter his first jab to earn a star. * '''step two: '''throw your star punch on his Bow taunt to instantly knock him down. * '''step three: '''counter the Hondo Rush to knock him down again. * '''step four: '''when he gets up, counter the Hondo Rush to to give Piston Hondo a TKO for Tokyo! Title Defense mode Piston Hondo returns to fight Little Mac once again in Title Defense to win the champion's belt. His clothes change from black to white this time, and he gains some new moves from his training (learning how to catch swords, eat without gaining weight and running faster than a bullet train). His existing moves also become faster. When he bows, he can be punched for an easy star. However, this only works the first time he bows. During the rest of the match he will counter if punched when bowing. However, if you block when he punches, you WILL get a star when you punch him. '''Star Oppurtunities: * Jab him when he flashes yellow on his Bow Taunt. * When you get a star off his taunt, throw two delayed punches. The second punch must be delayed more. * If Hondo counters you when bowing, block the jab and hit him with a jab of your own. * When Hondo counters when twitching, block the jab and hit him with a jab of your own. * Delay a jab after dodging his right uppercut. * Counter his right uppercut, and land two delayed punches. The second delayed punch must be delayed more. * Counter his left uppercut, and land two more delayed punches. The second must be delayed more. * When Hondo changes sides for a delayed uppercut, hit him when he's in the centre. * Mistime a Hondo Rush counter as long as it hits Hondo. Instant Knockdowns: * Throw a Star Punch when Hondo actually bows. * Counter the Hondo rush. The faster versions have more strict timing. * Throw a Star Punch when he switches sides for a delayed uppercut. Instant Knockout: * Throw a Three-Star Punch when Hondo switches sides for a delayed uppercut. Glitch: If you make him block right before he twitches his eyebrow, he will jab afterwards, but it strangely does no damage (and doesn't even knock you down in Champions Mode). It only takes a star away. If you block the glitched jab and stun him, the camera angle remains the same, it won't show sushi flying around his head, and you can only hit him twice. Exhibition challenges Challenger: # Defeat Piston Hondo and land EVERY punch thrown! # Find both one-punch-knockdown weak spots. # Win the fight with 34 or more remaining hearts! Title Defense: # Knock Piston Hondo down in under a minute! # Block 44 jabs! # Defeat Piston Hondo and never lose a Heart! Quotes Punch-Out!! featuring Mr. Dream (NES): * "I still remember our first fight. Now I'm gonna pay you back.. Banzai!!" (World Circuit fight) * "I'll give you a TKO from Tokyo!" * "Sushi, kamikaze, fujiyama, nipponichi..." meaning Raw fish, divine wind, a volcano in Japan, and "(I am) Japan's number one" respectively. * "You should wear a helmet when you fight me." * "Where is my camera crew? Hello Tokyo!" (In the current version of Punch-Out!! featuring Mr. Dream available for the Virtual Console, this quote replaces "Where is the NHK TV camera? Hello Tokyo!" which Honda utters in NES pressings of the game.) Punch-Out!! (Wii): * "Ichi, ni, orya!" (一、二、おりゃっ！！) meaning "One, two, ME!" (before throwing an uppercut - orya also is just a shout) * "Shimatta!" (しまった！) meaning "Oh no!" * "Iya na!" (いやな！) meaning "Oh no!" * "Dou da?" (どうだ？) meaning "What do you think?" * "Osoi!" (遅い！) meaning "You're slow!" * "Ichi, ni, san, shi, go, roku, shichi, hachi!" (一、二、三、四、五、六、七、八！) meaning "one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!" * "Sessha, Hondo to mousu" (拙者、本堂と申す。) meaning "This humble one is called Hondo." (said in a very humble way, proper of a samurai; sessha is an archaic pronoun used to refer to oneself) * "Munen..." (無念···) meaning "Regrettable..." (when knocked out) Punch-Out!! (anime): * "Watashi wa senshi no hitoridesu." (私は戦士の一人です) meaning "I am one with the warrior." (Intro) * "Terebitōkyō wa dokodesu ka? Kon'nichiwa, hahaoya to chichioya?" (テレビ東京はどこですか？こんにちは、母親と父親？) meaning "Where is TV Tokyo? Hello, mother and father?" * "Shimatta!" (しまった！) meaning "Oh no!" * "Anata mo watashi no reberu ni osoku sa rete imasu." (あなたも私のレベルに遅くされています。) meaning "You are way too slow for my level." * "Watashi wa akirameru." (私はあきらめる。) meaning "I give up." Doc Louis Tips: *''"Be careful in there, Mac! Watch out for the Hondo Rush! Keep your blocks up, baby! Keep your blocks up!"'' *''"You're still in this, Mac. Counter punch when you see the Hondo Rush coming!"'' *''"Hey, Mac baby. It's time to send Hondo back to his dojo, baby."'' *''"This sucka needs an oil change! Flatten him out with a one-two star punch, Mac! You got it, baby!'' *''"Hey, Mac baby. It's time to repay the favor... Send him a TKO for Tokyo!"'' *''"This sucka's got quick moves! Stay sharp, and remember to use your blocks."'' Mid-Round Intermission Punch-Out!! (Wii): Piston Hondo has six confirmed "Intermissions". They appear in pairs, but only the first two are usually seen, and the others may require certain tactics used in the match, to be seen, such as using "Counters" with Hooks. (unconfirmed stipulaton). 1 & 2: Sitting down and speaking. (Contender) 3 & 4: While sitting down again, he holds up one of two items (Sushi Platter, or incense), and speaks, before putting them down again. (Title Defense) 5 & 6: Standing and speaking. Trivia * In Career mode, his bio shows that he's the first of Mac's opponents to take his training at least somewhat seriously (Glass Joe is seen spending time around Paris instead of training, Von Kaiser getting thrashed by his young students (and is implied to actually be a nightmare that he experienced before the match, making his trauma), Disco Kid would rather be showing trophies, dancing and partying, and King Hippo eats one half of the day and sleeps the other half). * In Punch Out!! Wii's Career Mode he appears to be one of the only few opponents to take his training seriously (The others being Great Tiger and Bald Bull). Bear Hugger would rather be playing games, cutting down trees, and eating, Aran Ryan would rather mess with fellow boxers, and Super Macho Man would rather be showing off his muscles and being with women. * If Piston Hondo is expecting a star punch in Contender, he will look cautiously at Little Mac and speak before getting hit. * Oddly enough, his name changed from Honda to Hondo between the NES and Wii versions of the game. Speculations as to the reasoning behind the change are to avoid references to either the Honda line of vehicles or to sumo wrestler E. Honda from the Street Fighter series (despite Honda being a common surname in Japan). * In Contender, it's possible to dodge the entire Hondo Rush. However, it's not really worth it, as you can only do 3 to 4 hits after dodging the Hondo Rush. Video * In the NES game, Honda's hachimaki read 日本一 ("Nippon'ichi", which was also one of the words he said in one of his break banters), meaning "Japan's number one"; In the Wii game, Hondo's hachimaki now reads 一番 ("ichiban"), which means simply "number one". ** Notably, in the NES, Honda did not wear said hachimaki during the fights, unlike the Wii. * In the Title Defense intermission, Hondo is seen reading a manga. While its cover is rather vague and its contents are not shown, it is presumed to be a manga about boxing, since titles with this theme, like Ashita no Joe or Hajime no Ippo, are very successful in his home country. * Hondo's all-white attire in the Title Defense mode have connotations similar to the black color in Western cultures. Category:Characters Category:Punch-Out!! console characters Category:Punch-Out!! featuring Mr. Dream characters Category:Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! characters